Corroding bright minds

When a student passes out from High School, he/she is supposed to be heading towards maturity of thoughts and actions. Till this point of time he has been in a closed domain, but as soon as he steps out in the world, he learns to see beyond the yardstick, and that’s why we say that “the young generation is the future”. Their tender mind now reaches its apex utilization stage. The budding students are so enthusiastic and full of energy. The need is to rightly channelize their energy so as to best exploit it for their and their nation’s development.

The school and parents definitely have a key role in the casting of a young mind but what leads to the ultimate channelization is their higher education viz college/university. By choosing a particular college and course the student decides which way he/she wishes to go ahead in their career. College is the place where a child is supposed to grow in thoughts, learning and decisions. It’s like the instance when a child is taught “how to ride a bicycle” where the guide holds on the cycle till the child learns to balance and then the rider is left on his own and he learns to do it by himself and might ride in a different fashion compared to his guide. Likewise as the student enters a college, he is given more freedom and less spoon feeding so that he may grow up as an “Independent skilled individual”.

Every student knows what he wants when he passes through this stage of his life. He needs more freedom, more space and more opportunities to innovate so as to contribute to the pool of mind boggling ideas, the best of which may take the form of reality. Its not required to look into what students must not be allowed to have/do, because that’s already been taken care of, far too much than required though. Then what are we missing which is leading to the crisis of skilled graduates?

We are definitely missing something quintessential and by that I mean something in the process of turning a student into a graduate. What could it be? Is it the laziness of the young generation, or is there something wrong with the methodology of Indian institutes which is turning out scores of less skilled graduates each year? A clap always needs two hands, but what if one hand dominates the other??

By far I have seen two extreme categories of colleges in India, one being the movie type colleges wherein students do anything and everything as they wish , the other being “LAND OF RULES” wherein students feel that they live in a central jail. Both are’nt any good for honing the talents of the young buds. The need is to strike a balance between these two extremities. One could argue that more and more rules are being introduced at colleges because of the former category of colleges where students get spoilt. But is it helping any way,except receding the young population by frequent suicides?So again ,instead of looking into how new rules should be introduced, lets look into how this confined milieu is corroding the student mind and the social issues clinging with the juvenile cohort.

For instance let us take a very renowned university of Southern India. What is to come head, is as true as that person’s statement who is in excruciating pain. When a student comes here for councelling, he is blinded by the breath-taking campus and facilities, and specially those coming from Northern regions expect more exposure at a university like this which shows 100% placement and is in the heart of software hub. The next thing he finds is -he is travelling all the way from his far away home to this institute ,full of aspirations of a better future and a great life here. He is saddened by the thought of being away from is home and family yet somehow he feels he’s going to have the best time of his life in this period as after this he will have to take up responsibilities and he also knows he would definitely have to work to graduate as a skilled personnel, as the competition is cut-throat.

All these hopes and aspirations, are like a nitro-boost to a person’s mind which coaxes him to think, innovate and work wonders. But Whaam!!what happens in these years of graduation that when he sits for placements, he is like an old tired person who does’nt bother much to fight for the best of the firms?

Well here’s an entire saga on the “process of rusting innovative minds!!”

Lets talk in terms of aspects of student life at any university,or you may say the components which play key role in the development of their skills in these years of rigorous training.

First and the foremost comes “ Health”, how so ever smart a person may be,he needs to ensure he is in best of his health to carry out any further activity. When he was at home, he never bothered about his health because his mother was always there to take care of it. But when he stays in hostel, where he’s supposed to take care of all his requirements and basic amenities then he comes to understand what role does health play in his life,because if he falls ill then there would be no one to take care of his duties and him as well!This university,which had blinded the child with all its showy builidings and facilities, apparently does’nt seem to have a well equipped Health- Care Centre. A student who is admitted there with disease-X , is discharged after a fortnight with an additional infection and uncured X. And when his parent’s come up to see whether he is fine or not, then there is a chance they may fall sick too as they are made to run to all kinds of departments for so called permissions!

The agony does’nt end here, it’s just the beginning.Till now I had been using a “HE” for convenience, but when you talk of universities like this then it is a law to Specify HE or SHE. Yes one of the well known social problems roots here, at a learning centre, wherein Boys and girls are entirely different species.For the girls it is 5pm as the end of their funtime on weekends and for the other species it is night out! Wallah, what a contradiction!Talking of health for girls , fathers are not allowed inside hostel & mothers have to beg to meet their daughter anytime and to look after her health as there’s no one else to do so.One may argue, that men should not be allowed inside girls hostel and so fathers are not allowed.Thats true, but are those workers to be trusted more than fathers, who work inside the women hostel without any supervision? This was just the scenario when the college is in normal routine,the exam duration is yet to be talked upon. If a student falls seriously ill during his exam,then he may better consider himself re-registered and pay loads of money which may come handy for repaint of the railings of the institute. Whatever may come, give the exam and die, there would not be any re-schedule for you. And so the student, who was or could have been bright, but fell ill got the first blow of his career and the skills which were on the surface went a layer low.

It is said that every person has a child inside him, which has the tendency to do things which he is specifically denied to. And even science has the proof that young blood is too excited, so what do you think a guy or girl could possibly do when he/she is strictly forbidden from interacting with the opposite sex? Inculcating this cheap mentality that if a guy and gal sit on one bench in the class is shameful , can only lead to the after effects of them going on the wrong path and not having healthy friendship.Its so amusing to see that the college feels that it’s their responsibility to keep the students in check while they are away from home and not see that an even greater responsibility is to ensure that they are happy and healthy there. They donot have time for student problems, because they feel that they are the one who run the college, but they forget that STUDENTS make the college. The stupid part is,that they think that Indian constitution is only for others and not for a university which comes under it.India is democratic but, this university seems to have its own laws which are in no way by the pupil, for the pupil or of the pupil.

Instead of providing space,time and opportunites to students ,this university takes it all away so as to ensure that the student becomes a slave. Attending classes had never before been such a burden to a student and why is it?The reason is the cut-throat attendance percentage of 85% in every subject before every exam, including all medical and other casues. Students sit in class just for the sake of attendance,as if their career is based on being present in the classes rather than understanding or learning. He does’nt even have the option of choosing a well qualified faculty. Its so obivious,a student need’nt be forced to attend a class if the teacher is skilled and good at hi subject,he will himself be interested in learning, after all he is paying for it.But the mockery is,they don’t have good teachers and they want students to stick to their seats and pay full attention to whatever the person in front of them speaks. How can one expect this out of any HUMAN?On top of that,the frequent introduction of tests,assignments,exams etc tires the student mind as he is under pressure of scoring for the sake of CGPA.When does he get time to think and understand on his own? Where does he get the freedom to gain deep knowledge in the field of his interest and come up with a new idea? The opponents may argue that the students are free after and before classes , but after the forced hours of torment(classes), all a young person needs is some entertainment, food and rest besides completing projects, assignments before the deadlines. Here goes the proficiency, another stratum lower.

What would it be like if a person has to live at a place where he has constant fear of being observed for each of his actions?Well,you would know if you were a student or specifically a Girl at this university. You may start thinking it’s a heinous crime to fall in love if you are at this so called co-ed university, because here even being friends with a guy may result into something unexpected. I don’t understand why the Indian constitution makers included a column of rights in the preamble, because according to this institute,one has no right to speak up for oneself,say anything against something unacceptable,love a person of opposite sex or act like a human.

An obvious question comes to my mind each time I encounter people who degrade the status of a teacher .Doctors, Police , Engineers all made to vow or take oaths before they begin their profession,why not the most integral part of the society-the teachers? They have such a great moral responsibility towards the society and all they do is create rifts between young people ,who ,till date,were not even aware of the South-North India,Tamil-telugu etc divisions in the society.The root is the young generation and its not even their fault. When they see that their fellowmates , at such a small age are ready to play dirty politics based on power of their language and state then they are prone to become one of the divisional-misanthropists.

This is just a glimpse of the life a student goes through in these golden years of his life at a renowned university, wasting his energies and time worrying about something or the other which may make him miserable rather than becoming a zealous skilled professional .And forget about raising any voice against any inhuman act or wrong accusation. The management is the last entity one should go to,for complaining about any inconveniences or you will never know what HIT you. Your career might be greatly jeopardized by one single complain of yours.The ones who speak of problems are simplya made to go through an inquiry committee, as if they are murderers or criminals and if they further protest,they will be simply kicked out of the university forever. Even the law doesn’t punish some one so harshly as these inhuman hirnakashyaps (mythological monster) do.

After all this, comes the day when a student appears for placement and there he sits,ready to accept any firm and any job because he’s not that skilled any more and he knows that he lost it somewhere in those 4-5yrs of his college life.

The writer is a correspondent of Youth Ki Awaaz

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